Both pieces made interesting reading, and together they gave a full portrait of the project's over-groomed, over-commercialized flavor--so far from the spirit of the world it is supposed to memorialize.

In hindsight, the project's problems would seem to have been utterly predictable: I.M. Pei, the man who gave the world Dallas City Hall and the Mort Meyerson Symphony Center, designing a rock and roll mecca? But Dillon and Maurstad chronicled the missteps in execution that turned potential problem into reality.

The last line of Dillon's piece summed it all up: "Having finally enshrined rock 'n' roll, Cleveland is now hoping that it hasn't embalmed it as well.